Tuna Spread with Tomato

Tuna cream with tomato from Conserverie Jean de Luz

The tuna cream with tomato from Conserverie Jean de Luz is a spreadable white tuna terrine. The organic tomatoes add a ripe acidity, the Piment d'Espelette a fruity warmth, and both keep the mild fish pleasantly fresh.

Tuna cream with tomato is a spreadable pâté from Conserverie Jean de Luz in the French Basque Country, packed in small 85-gram jars. The white tuna is caught off the Basque coast and cooked separately, as are the organic tomatoes, before olive oil, onions, and a pinch of Piment d'Espelette combine both into a cream.

Fruity, mild, and with a warm touch

White tuna is considered the finest among edible tunas, and its mildness gives the terrine a calm, clear base note.

The tomato adds a ripe acidity that keeps the fish fresh and ensures the cream never feels heavy. Then comes the warmth of the Piment d'Espelette, both fruity and smoky, which only makes its presence felt after tasting. The terrine is firm straight from the fridge and becomes soft enough for thin slices at room temperature. There are six ingredients listed on the jar, and you can taste every single one.

On warm toast, with Guindillas on the side

Warm toast makes the cream supple, and only then does it release all its fruitiness.

In the Basque Country, it is served with Guindillas, those slender, mild pickled peppers whose acidity awakens the spread. As an appetizer, serve with a spoonful of aioli; in a sandwich between a lettuce leaf and a cucumber, it becomes a lunch. If you want a more varied apéro, open the mackerel cream with onions at the same time.

White tuna, auctioned at the harbor

White tuna, known as "germon" in French, passes by the Basque coast between late July and early November.

It is caught there in a strictly regulated fishery that allows the stock time to recover. The Conserverie purchases it at the Saint-Jean-de-Luz and Ciboure auction, where the fish arrive weighing around ten kilos and are three to four years old. The journey from the boat to the workshop is short, and every jar states which fisherman made the catch.

Tomatoes that go into the pot before the fish

Raw, the tomato is watery and fresh; when cooked, it reduces and its sugar emerges.

That is why the organic tomatoes here are cooked separately before they meet the fish, contributing their sweetness rather than their water. They appear in the ingredient list right after the tuna, and that is exactly how you can taste them. The extra virgin Empeltre olive oil comes from a small mill south of Pamplona, the salt from Navarre, and the Piment d'Espelette grows less than thirty kilometers away.

After the first spoonful

If you smooth the surface after every spoonful, you keep the cream sealed and the air out.

The opened jar will then keep in the refrigerator for about two weeks; store unopened jars in a dark, cool place. Behind the workshop at the harbor is Jean-Hilaire de Bailliencourt, an agricultural engineer who has been reviving the canning art of Saint-Jean-de-Luz since 2003. You can find the entire Basque Country in a jar at Conserverie Jean de Luz, and more fish for your pantry in our tinned fish collection.

Organic inspection body FR-BIO-010 – EU Agriculture